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 <h1>PHP Weathermap v0.98 </h1> 

 <h4>Copyright &copy; 2005-2016 Howard Jones, 
 <tt><a href = "mailto:howie@thingy.com">howie@thingy.com</a></tt>. (<a 
 href = "http://www.network-weathermap.com/">Website</a>)</h4> 
</div> 
 <h2 id = "faq">FAQ &amp; Useful Tips</h2> 

 <h3>FAQs</h3> 

 <p>Here are a few things that have come up more than once from previous 
 versions. Also, it's worth checking the <a href = 
 "http://www.network-weathermap.com/">online copy</a> of this document, 
 which will be updated over time. </p> 

 <p class = "important">If something isn't described here, 
 <em>check the cacti.log for errors</em>. Weathermap usually produces a 
 useful error message if there is a problem. Next, try setting Cacti's Log 
 Level to DEBUG for 10 minutes, and then have a look in cacti.log. Don't 
 forget to turn the Log Level back down again! </p> 

 <dl class = "faq"> 
 <dt id = "module_not_found">I get some error about 'module not 
 found', or similar...can you help?</dt> 

 <dd><p>The answer is probably no, or at least not directly. In most 
 cases, this is the result of a missing dependency, either PHP with no 
 GD, or with an older version, or without PHP support, or without 
 TrueColour support. I do try to extend weathermap to make these error 
 messages more explanatory wherever possible, but ultimately, you need to 
 get PHP working first. </p><p>Beware that on some systems you can have a 
 working GD in your 'web' PHP (mod_php) and still have a non-working 
 command-line PHP 
 - Debian and derivatives (Ubuntu) can suffer from this. </p><p>Also be 
 sure that the PHP you get from the command-line is the same installation 
 as you expect 
 - 'which php' and 'whereis php' will provide some *nix users with an 
 idea that they are running the right one, as does 'php -m' and 'php -v' 
 (is it the version you expect?). Also, some packaged PHP systems (MAMP, 
 XAMPP, WAMP etc) have the module installed, but disabled by default. 
 Check your php.ini to see if there is a commented-out line like 
 'extension=php_gd.dll'. </p> 

 <p>In 0.91 and newer, you may find the check.php to be useful when 
 figuring out which php.ini and php version you should be looking at 
 - http://yourserver/plugins/weathermap/check.php for the webserver 
 (editor/rebuild now) version, and 
 <tt>php check.php</tt> from the command-line for the CLI (Cacti 
 Poller/command-line tool) version. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "see_nothing">I don't see ANYTHING in the logs when 
 using the Cacti plugin.</dt> 

 <dd><p>Check if this is still the case when Weathermap is the only 
 plugin. If a plugin dies completely, it takes the poller and any 
 remaining plugins with it. This appears to be a problem with some older 
 versions of 'Reports' in particular, where anything listed after Reports 
 in the plugins[] list will not be run. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "nofunction">I get an error message about 
 function_exists()</dt> 

 <dd><p>This is PHP telling you that a function that Weathermap requires 
 is not available in your PHP installation. Usually, it's to do with 
 either GD, or FreeType. It can be that you have those libraries, but not 
 current enough versions, or versions compiled without particular 
 options. For example, it's possible to have FreeType installed, GD 
 installed, the php-gd module installed, but that the GD library wasn't 
 compiled with FreeType 
 <em>support</em> so they don't know how to talk to each other. This 
 tends to be less of a problem on packaged systems than where you build 
 your own libraries. </p> 

 <p>In 0.91 and newer, you may find the check.php to be useful when 
 figuring out which php.ini and php version you should be looking at, and 
 which functions might be missing 
 - http://yourserver/plugins/weathermap/check.php for the webserver 
 (editor/rebuild now) version, and 
 <tt>php check.php</tt> from the command-line for the CLI (Cacti 
 Poller/command-line tool) version. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "nothumb">My maps don't get created/updated (or "This 
 map hasn't been created yet")</dt> 

 <dd><p>This is almost always a permissions problem. Look in your 
 cacti.log for lines starting WEATHERMAP to see what is going 
 wrong. </p></dd> 

 <dt id = "no_overlib">I've defined some <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_OVERLIBGRAPH">OVERLIBGRAPH</a> lines, but 
 nothing appears in the map HTML when I use the command-line tool.</dt> 

 <dd><p>For historical reasons, the default format for <a href="config-reference.html#GLOBAL_HTMLSTYLE">HTMLSTYLE</a> is 
 'static' which avoids javascript. To get the overlib graphs to appear 
 you need to have <a href="config-reference.html#GLOBAL_HTMLSTYLE">'HTMLSTYLE</a> overlib' near the top of your map 
 configuration file. </p></dd> 

 <dt id= "overliboffscreen">When I use <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_OVERLIBGRAPH">OVERLIBGRAPH</a> and the 
 pointer is near the right side of the screen, the floating graph 
 disappears off the side of the screen...</dt> 

 <dd><p>If you set <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_OVERLIBWIDTH">OVERLIBWIDTH</a> and <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_OVERLIBHEIGHT">OVERLIBHEIGHT</a> correctly, then 
 Weathermap can make a better guess about whether to show the map to the 
 left or right. Be careful to set them to the correct value, or you may 
 see strange 'flashing' graphs. The easiest way is to right-click on the 
 graph in your browser and read the sizes from the Properties panel. </p> 

 <p>Typically one size is right for all your graphs, so this is a good 
 example of something you can add into <a href="config-reference.html#NODE_NODE">NODE</a> DEFAULT (or <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_LINK">LINK</a> DEFAULT). </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "gauges">The value from my RRD data is much too 
 big!</dt> 

 <dd><p>Is it about 8 times too big, by any chance? Historically, 
 Weathermap was mainly used for SNMP Interface statistics, which use 
 bytes-per-second counters ("octet counters" in SNMP-speak). Because of 
 this, the standard RRD datasource plugin multiplies everything by 8, to 
 get back to bits-per-second. New in 0.9, you can get the 'raw' value 
 from an RRD file by using 
 <a href = "targets.html#rrd">'gauge:' as a prefix</a>. </p><p>If the 
 value is wrong by some other constant factor, you can use the 'scale:' 
 prefix to multiply or divide by that factor 
 - e.g divide by 1000 to turn a milliseconds value into a 'real' seconds 
 value, or multiply by 1024 to get a kilobytes values from a megabytes 
 one. </p></dd> 

 <dt id= "timezone">The timestamp on my map is all wrong!</dt> 

 <dd><p>I have not seen this one myself, but a Chinese user has, and it 
 seems that PHP doesn't always use your system timezone correctly. The 
 fix is to edit php.ini to change date.timezone </p></dd> 

 <dt id = "gdbug">Weathermap just dies without warning on my 
 Debian/Ubuntu system 

 <br />OR... I get a blank screen in the editor when I add a node 

 <br />OR... I get a segmentation fault when Weathermap runs</dt> 

 <dd><p> 
 It's a GD bug. It's documented 
 <a href = "http://bugs.libgd.org/4">here</a>, 
 and the reason it mainly affects Debian is that Debian links to the 
 system GD (version 2.0.33) not the built-in PHP one (2.0.28ish). For 
 whatever reason, the problems aren't present in the PHP GD library, 
 which has a different alpha-blending implementation as far as I can see 
 from the docs. </p> 

 <p>The bugs are apparently fixed in GD 2.0.34, which has been released 
 and is in Debian unstable. Users report that upgrading to the version of 
 libgd2-xpm from unstable will fix this problem if you can't wait, or 
 recompile PHP to use it's own GD library. </p> 

 <p>Since 0.95, there is a small program supplied with Weathermap to test 
 for this problem. Run 
 <code>php check-gdbug.pgp</code> in the weathermap directory to see if 
 it really is this problem that affects you. </p> 

 <p>There is more information about fixing this issue for Debian Etch 
 (and perhaps also Ubuntu Edgy) in 
 <a href = "http://forums.cacti.net/viewtopic.php?t=21517">this Cacti 
 Forum thread</a>. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "icons">Where can I find some icons to use with 
 Weathermap? Why don't you have any supplied with it?</dt> 

 <dd><p> 
 There are plenty of sources online. A good google search would be 'visio 
 network icons'. Some to get you started: 

 <ul> 
 <li><a href = 
 "http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac50/ac47/2.html">Cisco's 
 distinctive icons</a> in a number of formats, and I have converted a 
 set of these into 
 <a href = "http://wotsit.thingy.com/haj/cacti/">PNG with 
 transparency</a>, too.</li> 

 <li><a href = "http://www.nagiosexchange.org/">Nagios Exchange</a> 
 has icons for network maps</li> 

 <li>For your own use only, you could use the ones that come with MS 
 Visio. Obviously these can't be redistributed!</li> 
 </ul>As for the second part, I can't draw, and I don't know of any 
 freely distributable icons. Feel free to draw some for me, and make them 
 open source. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "logo">How can I embed an image (like my company's 
 logo) in my maps? I don't want to have to create a special 
 background...</dt> 

 <dd><p>You can create a <a href="config-reference.html#NODE_NODE">NODE</a> with no links and no label, but with an 
 <a href="config-reference.html#NODE_ICON">ICON.</a> The <a href="config-reference.html#NODE_ICON">ICON</a> is your logo. You can also use this to embed images from 
 somewhere else - even dynamically produced ones 
 - how about MRTG graphs or RRD stripgraphs embedded in your map? </p></dd> 

 <dt id = "curves">I need to have a link that isn't just a 
 straight line...how can I do this?</dt> 

 <dd><p> 
 You can use the <a href = 
 "config-reference.html#LINK_VIA">VIA</a> keyword to make a link go 
 around corners.: 

 <div class = "shell"> 
 <pre><a href="config-reference.html#LINK_LINK">LINK</a> bendylink 
 <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_NODES">NODES</a> node1 node2 
 <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_VIA">VIA</a> 200 300 
 <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_VIA">VIA</a> 360 240 
</pre> 
 </div> </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id= "parallel">I need to have more than one link from node 
 A to node B, but they just overlap...how can I do this?</dt> 

 <dd><p>See 
 <a href = "http://www.network-weathermap.com/articles/parallel">this 
 article</a> for more about parallel links. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "aggregate">I still have two links, but I use MLPPP, 
 and I want to see a single link on the map for both physical lines.</dt> 

 <dd> <p>See 
 <a href = "http://www.network-weathermap.com/articles/parallel">this 
 article</a> for more about parallel and aggregated links. </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id = "editor_requests">When will you make the editor work 
 like <em>XYZ</em>?</dt> 

 <dd><p>Adding the editor in 0.7 has made adding a new core weathermap 
 into something that needs more consideration. Anything that dramatically 
 changes how you make a map (like the <a href="config-reference.html#LINK_LINK">LINK</a> DEFAULT and <a href="config-reference.html#NODE_NODE">NODE</a> DEFAULT 
 changes for 0.7) should mean a similarly big change in the editor. All 
 the options should really be editable from the editor too. In reality, 
 just getting the editor to run smoothly on more than one browser is 
 sometimes painful, let alone re-tooling it to add new features. With 
 that all said, there very likely will be a new version of the editor in 
 0.9, with drag &amp; drop editing, and (more) complete support for all 
 the new features since 0.6 (which is the version that the editor really 
 was written for 
 - it was written before I added new 0.7 features. D'oh!). </p></dd> 

 <dt id= "feature_requests">Will you extend weathermap to do 
 <em>XYZ</em>?</dt> 

 <dd><p>It depends. I have an internal idea of what I want weathermap to 
 be like. I don't want it to feel (too much) like a small program with 
 everyone's wishlist bolted on afterwards. If it seems like something 
 that a number of people could use, and doesn't dramatically change the 
 direction of the program (it won't get <a href = 
 "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zawinski's_Law_of_Software_Envelopment" 
 title = "jwz's law of software envelopment">mail-reading 
 capability</a> anytime soon), then it stands a better chance. Things 
 that take dozens of parameters to adjust something very subtle are 
 less likely. Ultimately, it is a GPLed program though, so <i>you</i> can 
 <i>always</i> add your own features! I try to keep a todo list on the 
 website for current work-in-progress. Obviously, things that 
 <i>I</i> want are <i>always</i> sensible and useful<tt>:-)</tt> . </p> 

 <p>In the past, people have paid to have features added. I have a day 
 job which pays for my food and my mortgage, so this isn't 
 <em>always</em> a possibility, but it sometimes is. If it's a good idea, 
 then I'll probably add it anyway, but if it's something special to you, 
 or that you want in a particular timescale, then maybe we can talk! </p> 

 </dd> 

 <dt id= "repayme">How can I possibly repay you for making my 
 life and work so much easier?</dt> 

 <dd><p>Actually, this one isn't very frequent. If you do find yourself 
 asking it, feel free to 
 <a href = "http://www.network-weathermap.com/support/donate">make a 
 donation, or send a gift,</a> though. However, I do like to 
 <a href = "http://www.network-weathermap.com/contact">hear from 
 users</a> anyway 
 - it's nice to know that people do use this thing. </p></dd> 
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